Sacroiliac support



y 9, 1963 H. G. NELKlN SACROILIAC SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.31, 1960 m m m m HENRY G. NELK/N WRF A 7' TORNEV July 9, 1963 H. G.NELKIN SACROILIAC SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001,. 51, 1960INVENTOR.

HENRY G. NELK/N United States Patent 3,096,760 SACROHLIAC SUPPORT HenryG. Nelkin, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to H.G. Enterprises, aco-partnership Filed Oct. 31, 1960, Ser. No. 66,038 3 Claims. (Cl.128-95) My invention relates to sacroiliac supports, and moreparticularly to a quick adjusting sacroiliac support.

In order to support and relieve the pain of a severely sprainedsacroiliac joint, a large amount of pressure is required to pull thehips together. With ordinary sacroiliac supports it is diflicult for thewearer to exert the necessary pressure required for this, and even afterattaining the pressure by pulling on the pull straps, the pressure isoften lost in the process of buckling the pull straps at the front ofthe body of the wearer. It is a purpose of my invention to avoid thisdifficulty in the adjustment of the sacroiliac support.

It is a particular purpose of my invention to provide an adjusting meansthat will produce the above referred to pressure, which is easy tooperate, this being accomplished by avoiding the friction between thepull straps and the body of the sacroiliac support, that is ordinarilyencountered when pull straps of the ordinary adjusting means are pulledtight.

It is a particular purpose of my invention to provide a sacroiliacsupport having a one-piece body portion of strong flexible fabric thathas means for detachably securing the opposite ends of the body portiontogether in fixed overlapping relation at the front of the body of thewearer, which body portion has transverse folds therein, one being oneach side of the middle of the body portion to provide a centralbridging portion between the folds on which a sacroiliac pad is mountedand to pro vide means for drawing the pad inwardly toward the body ofthe wearer, comprising adjusting members that are secured to the bodyportion at each of the transverse folds and extend across the spacebetween the folds, that are provided with loops on the free ends thereofthrough which straps extend, each of said straps having one end securedto the body portion in inwardly spaced relation to the fold on that sideof the body portion, and which straps are secured together in adjustedposition at the opposite ends thereof at the front of the body of thewearer.

By this mounting of the adjusting means with respect to the body portionof the sacroiliac support, an action somewhat similar to that of apulley is obtained, as the pull straps pulling through the loops at theends of the adjusting members secured to the body portion at the foldsthereof and extending in opposite directions across the bridging portionbetween the folds can exert a very powerful force against the bodyportion of the sacroiliac support at opposite sides of the body of thewearer to pull the hips together and to draw the sacroiliac pad withconsiderable force against the body of the wearer without any verystrong pull having to be exerted on the ends of the straps that are tobe buckled together at the front of the sacroiliac support on theforward side of the body of the wearer. Furthermore this mounting of theadjusting means and pull straps therefor reduces the friction thatordinarily exists between an ordinary pull strap that is connecteddirectly with such an adjusting member and the body portion of thesacroiliac support.

More specifically it is a purpose of my invention to provide asacroiliac support of the above referred to character, in which theadjusting members have divergent end portions that are secured to thebody portion at the transverse folds and which are secured to a singletab that is provided with a loop through which the above referred topull strap extends, and said sacroiliac support is "ice further providedwith stays at the folds and points of securement of the divergent endsof the adjusting member. Furthermore my sacroiliac support is providedwith a transverse stay at each side thereof spaced forwardly asubstantial distance from the fold on that side of the body portion atwhich the one end of the pull strap is secured, whereby the pulley-likeaction above referred to results when the pull straps are pulled upon atthe front of the body portion as the sacroiliac support is beingadjusted to the body of the wearer. This pulling action pulls the foldon one side of the body portion and the stay at which the end of thepull strap is secured on the other side of the body portion toward eachother to provide for the quick adjustment of the sacroiliac support toexert the desired pressure on the body of the wearer.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as thedescription of the drawings proceeds. I desire to have it understood,however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular detailsshown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of my improved sacroiliac support.

FIG. 2 is a section taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1 on an enlargedscale, the parts being shown more widely separated than would be thecase when the support is in position on the body, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of my improved sacroiliac support, showingthe same in the position it would assume when the end portions thereofare connected together with the sacroiliac support extending around thebody of the wearer.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my improved sacroiliac supportcomprises a one-piece woven fabric body portion 4, which has a centralportion 5 that is of uniform width and which has substantially straightmarginal edges 6. Said body portion is made of a woven fabric that issubstantially inextensible. The upper marginal edge of the body portionhas an upwardly curved portion 7 at each end thereof and the lowermarginal edge of said body portion has a downwardly curved edge 8 at theopposite ends thereof. These edge portions 7 and 8 terminate in convexlycurved edge portions 9 and a stay 10 is provided in the one end portion11 of said body portion, the other end portion 12 overlapping theportion 11 when the two end portions are secured together at the frontof the body of the wearer, and separable snap fasteners made up of theportions 13 and 14 are provided for securing the ends 11 and 12 of thebody portion detachably in overlapped position. The marginal edges ofsaid body portion are provided with a tape binding 15 for the purpose ofmaking said body portion inextensible.

A fold is provided in the central portion 5 of the body portion on eachside of the middle thereof, one of said folds being indicated by thenumeral 16 and the other fold by the numeral 17. A stay 18 is providedextending transversely of the body portion at the fold 16 and a stay 19is provided in the body portion at the fold 17, said stays being held inplace by means of tapes 20 that are stitched to the body portion. Spacedfrom the stays 18 and 19 are the stays 21 and 22, which extendtransversely of the body portion and are secured to the body portion bymeans of tapes 23 that are stitched to said body portion. Obliquelyextending stays 24 are also provided on said body portion adjacent theforward ends thereof, these being secured in position by means of tapes25 that are stitched to the body portion.

Mounted on the mid-portion of the sacroiliac support, which constitutesa bridging portion 26 extending between the folds 16 and 17, is an ovalpad 27, which is fiat on the opposite faces thereof and is preferablymade of sponge rubber. A fabric covering 28 is provided over the pad 27,and said pad and covering are secured to the bridging portion 26 bymeans of a tape binding 29, which is stitched to the bridging portion26.

The adjusting means for said sacroiliac support comprises adjustingmembers of a V shaped character having diverging legs 30, 31, 32 and 33,the divergent ends of the one adjusting member having the legs 30 and 31are secured to the body portion of the sacroiliac support at the fold 16at which the transverse stay 13 is located, while the divergent ends ofthe portions 32 and 33 of the adjusting member having the legs 32 and 33are secured to the body portion at the fold 17 at which the body portionis provided with a stay 19. Each of said adjusting members is providedwith a tab secured to the converging ends of the V-shaped adjustingmembers, the tab provided on the converging ends of the adjustingmembers 30 and 31 being indicated by the numeral 34 and the tab securedto the converging ends of the adjusting members 32 and 33 beingindicated by the numeral 35.

In practice, the strap that formsthe adjusting member having the legs 30and 31 extends from the one divergent end thereof to the other divergentend thereof and is merely folded to provide the converging end thereofto provide a doubled portion having the two plies 36 and 37 and the tabis made up of a doubled piece of fabric, which has a doubled backportion at 38, which forms a pocket through which a transverselyextending portion of an elongated metal loop extends, there being one ofsaid loops for each of said adjusting members, the loop provided on theadjusting member having the leg portions 30 and 31 being indicated bythe numeral 39 and the loop provided on the adjusting member having theleg portions 32 and 33 being indicated by the numeral 40.

An adjusting strap is provided on each side of the body portion of mysacroiliac support, the adjusting strap 41 being secured to the bodyportion at the transverse stay 21 at one end thereof and the adjustingstrap 42 being secured at one end thereof at the transverse stay 22. Thestrap 41 extends slidably through the loop 40;and the strap 42 extendsslidably through the loop 39. The free end of the strap 41 is providedwith a buckle '43, which;is adapted to be attached to the strap 42 afteradjustment of the support about the body of the wearer, and an elongatedmetal loop 44 is mounted on the strap 41, being slidably mountedthereon, and being adapted to embrace the free end of the strap 42 tohold said end in position as shown in FIG. 3. Y

When the sacroiliac support is put into position on the body of thewearer, it is first fastened together at the front thereof by engagementof the snap fastenerportions 13 with the portions 14 thereof in theusual manner.; Pull is then exerted on the straps 41 and 42, the strap42 being pulled through the buckle 43 on the strap 41 until the desiredtight fit of the sacroiliac support about the body of the wearer isattained, after which the prongs 45 on the buckle 43 are forced throughthe strap 42 to hold it in adjusted position. In exerting a pull on thestraps 41 and 42 the strap 42 pulls on the body portion at the stay 22and on the adjusting members 30 and 31 to pull on the body portion alsoat the stay 18, thus tending to reduce the distance between the stays 18and 22. Similarly, the strap 41 pulls on the stay 21 and on theadjusting members 32 and 33, pulling on the stay 19, thus tending toreduce the distance between the stays 21 and 19. As a result,

the stays 18 and 19 are pulled toward each other to press the pad 27tightly against the body of the wearer, and the stays 21 and 22 arepulled tightly against the body of the wearer on opposite sides thereof,whereby the desired pressure of the pad 27 against the back of thewearer and the pulling of the hips-together is accomplished. Due to theprovision of the loops 39 and 40 the forces exerted on the straps 41 and42 by the pull of the wearer at the front of the body is substantiallydoubled at the mounting of'the adjusting members 30 and 31 at the fold16 and 4 of the adjusting members 32 and 33 at the fold 17, with theresult that these folds are drawn toward each other as shown in FIG. 2,leaving the excess of the bridging portion 26 folded between the bodyportion of the sacroiliac support and the body of the wearer, asindicated at 46 in FIG. 2.

What I claim is:

l. A sacroiliac support having a one-piece body portion of strongflexible fabric, means for detachably securing the opposite ends of saidbody portion together in fixed overlapping relation to encircle the bodyof the wearer, said body portion having a transverse fold on each sideof the middle thereof, a pad mounted on said body portion between saidtransverse folds, adjusting members each comprising a pair of divergingportions of fixed length, said diverging portions having the divergentends thereof secured to said body portion in fixed position at each ofsaid transverse folds, said adjusting members extending across the space.between said transverse folds, loops secured in fixed position on theends of said adjusting members remote from said secured ends, and strapseach secured in fixed position at one end to said body portion betweenone overlapping end thereof and a transverse fold and extending slidablythrough one of said loops, the other ends of saidstraps being adjustablysecured together at the overlapping ends of said body portion.

2. A sacroiliac support having a one-piece body portion of strongflexible fabric, means for detachably securing the opposite ends of saidbody portion together in fixed overlapping relation to encircle the bodyof the wearer, said body portion having a transverse fold on each sideof the middle thereof, a stay mounted on said body por tion at each ofsaid folds each in fixed position relative to one of said folds, atransverse stay. on each side of said body portion in spaced relation tosaid transverse fold and an end of said body portion and means [forsimultaneously pulling the transverse fold on each side of the bodyportion toward the transverse stay that is spaced from the fold on theother side of the body portion.

3. A sacroiliac support :having a one p-iece body portion of strongflexible fabric, means for detachably securing the opposite ends of saidbody portion together in fixed overlapping relation to encircle the bodyof the wearer with said overlapping ends at the front of the body, saidbody portion having a transverse fold on each side of the middle thereofto provide a central bridging portion between said folds at the back ofthe body, a pad mounted on said central bridging portion, a stay mountedon said body portion at each of said folds, a transverse stay on eachside of said body portion in forwardly spaced [relation to saidtransverse fold, adjusting members each comprising a pair of divergingportions of fixed length, said diverging portions having the divergentends thereof secured to said body portion in fixed position at each ofsaid transverse folds, said adjusting members extending across the outerside of said bridging portion in opposite directions, loops secured infixed position on the ends of said adjusting members opposite saidsecured ends and a strap on each side of said body portion secured infixed position thereto at one end thereof at said transverse stay andextending slidably through one of said loops, the other ends of saidstraps being adjustably secured together at the forward side of the bodyof the wearer.

References (Iited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS264,153 Hambujer Sept. 12, 1882 2,100,964 Kendrick Nov. 30, 19372,117,309 Fritsch May 17, 1938 2,219,475 Flaherty Oct. 29, 19402,476,029 Da-wson July 12, 1949 2,793,368 Nouel May 28, 1957

2. A SACROILIAC SUPPORT HAVING A ONE-PIECE BODY PORTION OF STRONGFLEXIBLE FABRIC, MEANS FOR DETACHABLY SECURING THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAIDBODY PORTION TOGETHER IN FIXED OVERLAPPING RELATION TO ENCIRCLE THE BODYOF THE WEARER, SAID BODY PORTION HAVING A TRANSVERSE FOLD ON EACH SIDEOF THE MIDDLE THEREOF, A STAY MOUNTED ON SAID BODY PORTION AT EACH OFSAID FLODS EACH IN FIXED POSITION RELATIVE TO ONE OF SAID FOLDS, ATRANSVERSE STAY ON EACH SIDE OF SAID BODY PORTION IN SPACED RELATION TOSAID TRANSVERSE FOLD AND AN END OF SAID BODY PORTION AND MEANS FORSIMULTANEOUSLY PULLING THE TRANSVERSE FOLD ON EACH SIDE OF THE BODYPORTION TOWARD THE TRANSVERSE STAY THAT IS SPACED FROM THE FOLD ON THEOTHER SIDE OF THE BODY PORTION.